Ways to Make Use of Knowing Chinese Characters

Kanji Usage of Japanese Learners in the Early Period

Abstract

Many Japanese language learners feel that Chinese characters are difficult. However, an examination of westerners who came to Japan shortly after its opening shows that some of them took advantage of their knowledge of Chinese characters. This paper introduces this facet of the Japanese language learning environment of this period through the examples of the diplomat Ernest Mason Satow, the Japanese language specialist E. G. Spalvin, and the missionary Nikolai Kasatkin.